There are sleep gadgets designed to help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and promote more peaceful slumber. Sleep trackers aren’t one of them. Instead, sleep trackers are designed to monitor your sleep cycles, allowing it to glean insights on how well you sleep and provide actionable advice on the things you can do to improve it.
The best sleep trackers gather a variety of data that it uses to extrapolate your overall sleep quality. They use accelerometers to track sleeping motion, as well as heart rate sensors to measure heart rate variability, respiratory rate, and even skin temperature. Some sleep trackers will also use oxygen sensors to capture blood oxygen saturation for a more complete picture of your overall sleep quality.
The best sleep trackers can come in a few different form factors. Wristbands are, of course, the most traditional, as sleep monitoring is commonly integrated onto wearable fitness trackers. Same with smartwatches, which are also commonly fitted with sleep tracking capabilities. In recent years, smart rings have become a preferred form factor due to their small size and non-intrusive function. There are also less-popular wearable form factors, such as earbuds, headbands, and clips that provide similar sleep tracking functions, as well as non-wearable ones such as devices you install underneath the mattress.
How accurate are the best sleep trackers? While they won’t quite compare with the results of a proper PSG test, they do track sleep variables quite well. They may not be pinpoint accurate, but they do manage to take a relatively good snapshot of your nightly sleep quality, allowing them to recognize any potential sleep disorders and identify specific areas for improvement.
These are the best sleep trackers to help you monitor and improve your nightly slumber.
Amazfit Band 7
Pros
- Very affordable
- Automatically tracks naps longer than 20 minutes
- Monitors heart rate and SpO2 levels
Cons
- Sticks with basic insights
You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars for a capable sleep tracker. If you’re in the market for the most affordable one you can get your hands on, we highly recommend this small smartwatch from Amazfit, which delivers a pretty amazing combination of features for under $50. It delivers pretty good sleep tracking, with the ability to track different sleep stages, record your heart rate, and monitor blood oxygen level, although we feel it’s a bit less accurate compared to the more expensive options in the list, such as the Whoop 4 or the Oura Ring. The readings are consistent, too, so you can glean useful analysis and advice that can help improve your nightly slumber. Aside from the sleep tracking, it comes with a 1.47-inch always-on display, fitness tracking for 120 sport modes, and a number of useful smartwatch functions. That’s quite a lot of features for a very affordable price.
Fitbit Inspire 3
Pros
- Slim, compact size
- Monitors heart rate and SpO2 levels
- No subscription needed for sleep features
Cons
- Sticks with basic insights
This wearable sleep tracker comes with a diminutive 0.8-inch screen, so it looks more like a compact wristband than a traditional smartwatch. It’s also pretty affordable, coming in well under $100, so you can get a good load of tracking features for not that much money. The device automatically tracks sleep as long as you keep it on, logging how much time you spend at each sleep stage, generating individual sleep scores each night, and creating a personalized sleep profile. It doesn’t provide any advanced sleep insights the way other devices do, but the app is easy to use and the tracking is dependable, so it’s worth
Sleepon Go2Sleep 3
Pros
- Medical-grade SpO2 tracking
- Monitors heart rate and blood glucose
- Captures every oxygen desaturation event
- Provides detailed insights and reports
Cons
- Only tracks sleep and nothing else
- Shape takes getting used to
Unlike other smart rings in the list, this device is strictly for sleep tracking. As such, users only need to wear it before going to bed, so you can leave it on the nightstand after waking up, ready to use the next time you go to bed. The device tracks blood oxygen (medical grade accuracy), heart rate, blood glucose, sleep depth and quality at every individual stage, and any changes in sleep patterns, from which it generates a comprehensive and detailed analysis on your HRV, sleep stages, and various sleep factors. It also delivers professional-grade PSQI (sleep quality index) scores and personalized sleep advice that’s more in-depth than what you’ll find in many all-in-one trackers. If you’re only interested in sleep tracking and don’t care much for tracking other wellness stats, this is arguably a better choice, especially with the depth of analysis and insights it can provide.
Withings Sleep Tracking Pad
Pros
- One-time setup
- Provides in-depth sleep data
- Useful insights
Cons
- Needs available power outlet
Some people might not feel comfortable putting on a wearable sleep tracker when they go to bed. This tracking pad is designed to slip under the mattress, where it uses pneumatic and sound sensors to detect your sleep movements, heart rate, respiratory rate, snoring, and different sleep cycles. That’s right, it can monitor all that by looking for any minuscule changes in pressure and sound that can be caused by your pulse, breathing, movement, and more. Pretty impressive. The app provides in-depth sleep data, even recording any sleep interruptions and analyzing how regularly it happens, among other stuff. Suffice to say, you’ll have a ton of stats to digest, complete with detailed insights on how you can improve each aspect of your sleep (e.g. how you can maintain more regular sleep patterns, how to cut down your snoring, and more). The catch is, you’ll need to have an available power outlet near the bed, since the device will need to plug in to keep running.
Whoop 4.
Pros
- Pretty accurate sleep readings
- Comprehensive insights and analysis
- Long battery life
- Very useful sleep coach
Cons
- Expensive subscription required
If you don’t like wearing any type of screen to bed, then the smartwatches we’ve features so far probably aren’t your cup of tea. Maybe, this screen-free sleep tracking wristband will be more suited to your tastes. Yes, it looks a little odd, since it looks like you’re wearing a watch strap without an actual watch, but you get used to it, especially once you see the kind of data its able to collect (its strain and recovery data is quite unique). It’s particularly good for sleep tracking, too, where it accurately monitors slow wave, awake, REM, and light sleep stages, all while providing comprehensive analysis that’s more in-depth than what you can get from most other wearables. We’re especially fond of the built-in sleep coach that advises you when you should go to bed, predicts how much sleep you will get if you go to bed at specific times, and even calculates how much sleep you need based on your energy use throughout the day. It’s quite unique in how it correlates your sleep data with all its other measurements, making for a more holistic approach. Since it doesn’t have a screen, it’s able to conserve battery life, allowing it to go around four to five days between charges.
Oura Ring Gen 4
Pros
- Accurate sleep tracking
- Comprehensive analysis and insights
- Comfortable and good-looking
Cons
- Requires monthly subscription to unlock all data
Smart rings have become many people’s preferred form factor for activity and sleep tracking, since they’re smaller and less intrusive than your standard wristbands. This one, in particular, is compact and comfortable enough that you will often forget you’re wearing one, all while looking nice enough to wear in most every setting. It collects plenty of sleep data, from movements and heart rate to respiratory rate and body temperature, all of which it uses to provide insights on sleep efficiency, restfulness, physical readiness, and more. They also have comprehensive explanations and analysis for the data, even detailing how it correlates to your energy levels and activity bandwidth. Suffice to say, you don’t just get basic readings and a sleep score – they go deep into how your sleep can improve an dhow it can affect the rest of your day. Battery life is good, too, lasting around five days in our tests, although the $5.99 a month subscription feels a bit too much (you have to get it, though, if you want all the useful readings).
Ultrahuman Ring Air
Pros
- Accurate sleep tracking
- Comprehensive analysis and insights
- No subscription required
Cons
- Gets hot when charging
If you like the smart ring form factor as a sleep tracker, but don’t quite want to shell out for another monthly subscription, then you’ll probably prefer this subscription-free option. Like the Oura, it’s compact, non-intrusive, and comfortable to wear in bed. It’s also very good at sleep tracking, providing insights on par with what the Oura offers, so you can get good actionable information that can help you improve both your sleep and your day-to-day function. The app presents the data in a digestible manner, too, so it’s not as overwhelming as some of the other apps we’ve seen, while also providing helpful notifications for various things, such as when to stop drinking coffee (or other stimulants), when to schedule your bedtime based on your circadian rhythm, and more. Sure, the Oura can feel a bit more comprehensive, but this provides a whole load of sleep data and analysis without requiring another monthly payment, which we like a whole lot more.
